Poor Me!

Alas. My school assignment was to write a short story--one or two pages
long--that used flashbacks to tell the main part of the story, like
"The King's Fifth" by Scott O'Dell. Thankfully, it could be about
whatever I wished. So I came up with my favorite story that I tell to
myself, which has undergone massive changes along the way (Mainly:
changed a main character's name, replaced the villain, changed the
personality of a main character's sister, changed the name of the
imaginary country). I wrote it down, getting very caught up in it and
doing, if I may say so, a fairly good job, for me (but that isn't
saying much, truly. You've never read my fiction). Now, the shortest
"short story" I have written has been eight pages long. I completely
missed (and I would swear to that in court) the part that said "two or
three pages", so I wrote away and submitted it, thinking, "Well, at
least it's under twenty pages, unlike the time I retold the Greek
Myth." No. It was 23 pages long.

My punishment was this: Shorten it. To two pages, but if it was over it
would be accepted. I did all I could and it's still three pages long.

Alas. When I write a short story it's too long, and when I write a
novel-length story (I can dream, can't I?) it's much too short.

I'm learning to write more, to include more descriptions, to edit
myself and lengthen myself. It works. And if I had known about the
limit I would have come up with something else, entirely. The problem
is I don't notice. (Now: do NOT say I "need to notice" these things. I
know that, and I am working on that. The LAST thing I need is a million
people saying that to me.)

Alas, I must learn somehow to actually write a short story that isn't
8+ pages long. My poor, poor, homeschool evaluator!